


"Just need to check."

by Werepirechick



Series: Listen to the soundless world. [1]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Big Brothers, Deaf Character, Deaf Michelangelo, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Feelings, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Little Brothers, Past Character Death, Siblings, Sign Language, expect more of that in the future, i still have feelings over The Power Inside Her, i'm not surprised that the first piece i do for it is on this topic, post The Power Inside Her, so i'll give them to the characters too, this AU is rather emotionally charged honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 17:34:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9668831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werepirechick/pseuds/Werepirechick
Summary: It's been a week since it happened, but Mikey is still privately struggling with what happened to his brother.Seeing that Donnie is alive and well, and being able to feel it too, makes that easier.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Early posting for one of my valentines day one-shots on tumblr, a quick ficlet in the newest AU I've spawned.
> 
> Mikey in this universe has been deaf his whole life, but other than that, everything is still the same. I in no way claim to be an expert on anything involving deafness or hearing impairment, but I did try my best.
> 
> I'll very likely do more things for this AU, which is why I made it a series. Subscribe if you want to see those things.

 

 

Donnie was in his lab when Mikey found him. He was always in his lab, day or night and everything in between. Especially since a few nights ago, Mikey’s brother hadn’t stopped working on his projects. Probably to distract himself from what’d happened.

Mikey knocked on the metal door to tell Donnie he was there, and though Mikey couldn’t hear it himself, Donnie did. Mikey’s brother glanced up from his work, and smiled tiredly.

 _What’s up?_ Donnie signed.

Mikey shrugged. He wasn’t really sure. Or, he was, but he wasn’t sure how to phrase it.

Mostly, it was late even for them, and Mikey wasn’t ready to sleep. There were a lot of scary thoughts hanging out in the back of his head, and he didn’t want to meet them just yet.

Donnie watched him stand in the doorway another moment, before going back to whatever he was working on. Mikey saw a pen in his brother’s hand, so it was either notes or blueprints.

Donnie didn’t look up again as Mikey approached, but he did when Mikey gently grabbed his wrist.

Donnie looked at him questioningly, and mouthed, _Is_ _something wrong?_

Mikey shook his head, and mouthed back, _Just need to check._

Donnie seemed confused, but he let Mikey take his hand anyways.

Mikey carefully unwrapped Donnie’s wrist and hand, dropping the strips onto the table beside them. Mikey slid his thumbs over his brother’s inner wrist, and put two fingers over the space.

A second passed, and he felt Donnie’s pulse.

It was there, same as it’d always been… even if for a few minutes, it hadn’t.

That’d been a bad night. Mikey hadn’t been able to piece things together fast enough- missing words and shouts and April not bothering to look at him head on when she talked. Mikey hadn’t even been sure what’d been happening, until Leo had rapidly signed that April was calling herself Z-A-N-A-R-O-N, finger spelling the weird name, and that she was planning to cleanse the earth.

And suddenly, before any of them had time to react, their brother had been gone.

They’d seen Donnie climb the building, and Mikey had wanted to yell after him, he really had, but he didn’t have the concentration to form any words correctly. Too much happening all at once to spare the time.

Mikey had watched as his brother was pulled into the air, mute because hand signs were useless, and saw him be vaporized.

Mikey didn’t want to sleep, because even days later, he was still seeing that. He didn’t know how Donnie had been sleeping, since he’d been the one to actually experience it.

Maybe Donnie hadn’t been sleeping at all. That seemed more likely than anything.

Mikey pushed those thoughts to the side, and focused on the present moment.

Feeling Donnie’s pulse under his fingers, steady and familiar and _there_ , made the fear easier to deal with.

Mikey might not have ever _heard_ Donnie’s heart, but feeling the _lub-lub-lub_ of it was probably close to that experience. It was as close as Mikey would ever get to having that experience.

Donnie pulled his wrist out of Mikey’s grip, and Mikey stopped being able to count the beats his brother’s heart made.

 _For real, are you alright?_  Donnie signed swiftly, starting to look actually concerned.

Mikey traced the tired lines in his brother’s face, and tried for a comforting smile. _I’m fine. I just got some thoughts in my head. No big deal._

 _You’re acting weird, Mikey,_ Donnie signed, using Mikey’s signed name of an M and the word for brother mixed together.

 _Just tired. I should go to bed soon,_ Mikey signed back. Then as an afterthought, _You should too. It’s late and you’re still getting better._

Donnie grimaced, probably because he was trying to disagree, but Mikey beat him to it by signing, _I_ _f you go to bed, I’ll go to bed, and then we’ll both be in bed. Win win._

 _Since when do_ you _care about my bed time?_

 _'Since I saw you get killed, and realized how much more we need to take care of you',_ Mikey didn’t say.

Instead, he signed, _S_ _ince I figured out that you’re a dumb insomniac who doesn’t sleep enough._

_I sleep plenty._

Mikey reached up, and tugged Donnie’s mask down over his nose, exposing the dark circles there.

 _Your face says otherwise, Donnie,_ Mikey signed, signing Donnie’s name as a D and the word for brother. _Also, you look like a dork._

 _Shut up,_ Donnie signed grumpily, then fixing his mask.

Mikey felt a laugh bubble out of him, his chest shaking and a vibration going up his throat. He didn’t know if his laughter sounded off compared to other people, but he had no frame of reference anyways, so… who cared?

 _Stop laughing at me,_ Donnie signed, hiding a grin and obviously less annoyed than he was pretending to be.

 _Only if you go to bed,_ Mikey signed cheekily.

Donnie gave him an exasperated look. _I_ _f I go to bed, will you tell me what’s bothering you?_

Mikey shrugged. _Maybe, but you’re going to bed either way._

_You’re not the boss of me._

_No, but our big brothers are and I’ll go get them if you don’t listen._

Donnie rolled his eyes, and Mikey saw a fond smile find its way onto his face. _Fine. Just let me clean up first._

Donnie’s clean up consisted of shoving all his notes into an empty drawer, and forcing the thing shut. It didn’t take too long, and when Mikey questioned his brother’s organizational skills, Donnie replied, _Organization is for people with time and energy. I have neither._

Once Donnie had gathered up his wrappings from the table top, and brushed some crumbs from what had likely been his dinner onto the floor, they finally left.

As they were leaving the lab, and Donnie finished turning off all the lights, Mikey stopped to look at his brother. _Really_ look at him.

Donnie was seeming a lot older than he’d used to be, same as the rest of them, sometimes it just… _showed more_ with him.

They’d put a lot of stress on their third brother the last few years, and it was clear in the slight slump Donnie’s shoulders had and the dark rings that’d become normal under his eyes.

Mikey hadn’t noticed. He didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed, but he hadn’t.

And just a few days ago, Donnie could have been gone for good, and Mikey and their brothers might never have gotten a chance to fix that.

Donnie jumped a bit in surprise, as Mikey grabbed him in a sudden hug.

Mikey couldn’t hear Donnie’s heart, or feel it through the thick plate, but as he pressed his forehead to Donnie’s plastron, he imagined it there. Thumping on, even with the terrifying experiences it’d been through that week.

 _I was scared. Really, really scared. We all were,_ Mikey silently mouthed to himself, purposefully doing it while Donnie couldn’t see. _Don’t do that again. Don’t do that to us again._

Donnie tapped on him on the head, signalling Mikey to look up at him. Donnie mouthed, _You’re scaring me, Mikey. Are you sure there isn’t something wrong?_

Mikey smiled, and shook his head. _No. Just giving you a good night hug._

He reached up and tapped Donnie’s forehead, like he had Mikey’s. _Go rest your big brain. Even you have to sleep sometimes._

Donnie gave him a look, but seemed to let it go. Mikey thought he felt his brother say something, as Donnie bent around him in another hug, but he couldn’t see Donnie’s lips to read whatever it’d been.

Donnie shut the door to the lab, and they made their way to their bedrooms. Leo and Raph had gone to bed a few hours ago, same for their father. It was just the two of them.

Mikey paused in his bedroom doorway, and as a last second decision, rapped his knuckles on the frame to get Donnie’s attention.

When Donnie glanced back, Mikey signed, _I_ _love you._

Donnie blinked, then smiled warmly, and signed back, _I_ _love you too._

Mikey grinned, and waved goodnight. Donnie waved back, and vanished into his bedroom for some definitely needed sleep.

Mikey figured that he could sleep now, since he’d chased his brother into bed, and probably also chased most of the scary thoughts out of his head.

He tried to focus on remembering Donnie’s heartbeat, the steady pulse of it, as he climbed into bed and shut his eyes.

For the first time that week, Mikey didn’t dream of storms or flashing lightning or his brother vanishing. Instead, it was black and dreamless, and filled with a soothing feeling of everything being alright, at least for the moment.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still salty and frustrated that canon didn't give us more emotional reaction from the brothers, especially since one of them actually freaking DIED. You'd think that'd be a call for some serious emotional issues, right??
> 
> I mollify myself with fics like this.


End file.
